Berlin car hire Germany and things to do
With so many places to visit in Berlin, the best way to discover the city is to pre-book a hire car from the airport. More than a place, Berlin is an idea: few cities have a more dramatically evocative name. Brandenburg Gate, with its goddess of Victory on her chariot, continues to honour the formidable Prussian past.
The Kurfilrstendamm, at once elegant and garish, offers an ebullient echo of the wildly creative 1920s. The restored Reichstag recalls united Germany's brief attempts at parliamentary democracy, while the gigantic Olympic Stadium still proclaims the bombast of Hitler's dictatorship. The chaos and destruction that followed finds a quite deliberate reminder in the bombed out shell of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
The serene green spaces (largest of any city in the world) are West Berlin's lungs, but the heart, the centre around the Kurflirstendammor Ku'damm as its popularly known has an urgent, urban beat. Here are the shops, cafes, cinemas and theatres that have always appealed to both the Berlin bourgeoisie and intellectual community.
Berlin History
Friedrich II, Prince Elector of Brandenburg, assumes greater control over Berlin in 1447. The town retains virtual autonomy within the empire. During the Reformation, the people persuade the Prince Elector, Joachim II, to accept the Reformed rituals taught by Luther.
17th century The Thirty Years' War causes widespread strife. The Great Elector, Friedrich Wilhelm (1640-88) dreams of one united state of Brandenburg and Prussia. His efforts prepare Berlin to become a strong capital. Jewish refugees from Vienna and Huguenots fleeing France add to the city's cosmopolitan population.
In 1701 the Kingdom of Prussia is proclaimed under Friedrich I. His successor, Friedrich the Great, concentrates on building up the Prussian empire. Wars against revolutionary France begin in 1792. 19th century Napoleon's Grande Armee defeats Friedrich's successors. The French advance through Eastern Germany in 1806. Napoleon rides unimpeded through the Brandenburg Gate into Berlin. After the two year occupation the Prussian rulers are left to contend with liberal nationalism. Workers revolt in 1848 and are brutally suppressed by Prussian cavalry.
The Franco Prussian War
In the Franco Prussian War of 1870-71, the Germans under Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor, overcome the French. In the aftermath of the conflict he creates a united Germany. Berlin booms as the centre of the machine industry. 20th century Berlin's university and research institutes bring new prestige to the city but fortunes turn with World War I. Afterwards the Weimar Republic lasts fourteen years only to be overcome by economic difficulties and mass unemployment, ultimately causing a return to power of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party in 1932. Hitler becomes chancellor in 1933.
Starting in 1939 after Germany's invasion of Poland, World War II ends on May 7th, 1945 with the unconditional surrender of German troops. Four power control of Berlin is formalized at Potsdam by Churchill, Truman and Stalin. Soviets try to incorporate Berlin into East Germany, blockading West Berlin in 1948; but this is circumvented by airlifting supplies into the city. In 1961 Soviets construct the Wall to prevent refugees leaving East Germany.
Running through the centre of town is Berlin's most important street, Kurfiirstendamm (Prince Elector’s Embankment), perhaps the liveliest avenue in all of Germany. This is one place which pulsates with traffic late into the night. The street is known widely as Ku'damm and, like the Champs Elysees in Paris, it plays a more popular role as the town's preferred promenade. When Ku'damm window shopping expeditions take you as far as Fasanen strasse, you might like to visit the Jewish Community Centre at number 79/80. Framing the entrance is the portal from the synagogue that once stood here.
It was burned to the ground in 1938 From the hub of the Ku'damm at Joachimstaler Strasse, move on to Breitscheid platz, site of Kaiser Wilhelm Gediichtniskirche (M emoria I Church), preserved as a ruin, never to be restored. There is no more eloquent symbol of the city's suffering from bombardment and postwar rebirth. The war-scarred tower with the broken stump of its steeple is flanked by a new octagonal church to the east and a chapel (see the altarpiece by Ernst BarJach) and a six-sided tower to the west.
Beyond the church is the 22 storey Europa Center, which extends from Tauentzienstrasse to Budapester Strasse.
There are scores of boutiques, a cinema, a casino, and, best of all, a rooftop cafe with a splendid view of the whole city. KaDeWe (short for Kaufhaus des Westens), Berlin's phenomenal department store, lies a stone's throw away in Ta uen tzienstrasse. The zoo, or Zoologischer Garten, in Budapester Strasse contains such beguiling attractions as Indian and African elephants, giant pandas from China and rare, single horned rhinoceroses from India. Next door is the Aquarium, with fascinating ocean and river life.
Tiergarten Area Berlin
Despite its name, the Tiergarten (Animal Garden) is not another zoo. For the Brandenburg princes, it was a forest for hunting deer and wild boar. Friedrich the Great cleared away the trees and turned it, as was his Francophile wont, into a French style park of formal gardens and geometrical avenues. The northwest side of the Tiergarten constitutes HansaViertel, a chic residential neighbourhood damaged during the war and rebuilt III 1957 for an international exhibition.
To the south, just off Strasse des 17. Juni, you'll catch sight of a whimsical architectural landmark: the Technical University's und Schiflbau (Hydraulic and Ship Engineering Institute). The budding, despite its earnest name, is painted blue, pink and green technology with a smile.
Climb the 285 steps of the soaring Siegessliule victory column on the circle of the Grosser Stern for a magnificent view of the city.
Between the canal and Tiergarten strasse, in rubble strewn wasteland not far from the Wall, is a cultural centre, where some of Berlin's most prestigious institutions can be found: the Nationalgalerie, Staatsbibliothek and Philharmonie. In the nearby Strasse des 17. Juni you'll see a gloomy Soviet war memorial (SovielDenkmal) made of marble from the Reich Chancellery, topped by a huge bronze statue of a Russian soldier.
In the palace courtyard is a splendid statue of the Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm on horseback, designed by the prolific Baroque sculptor and architect Andreas Schluter. The palace interiors have been restored to recapture the gracious atmosphere of royal life in the 18th century. You are free to roam at will through the ornamental world of the Hohenzollerns, except for Friedrich 1's and Sophie Charlotte's apartments in the central building and west wing (join one of the guided tours offered daily at regular intervals). The rooms occupied by the king and queen echo the Baroque grandeur of Versailles.
Rococo Paintings Berlin
Do not miss the incomparable Rococo paintings in the concert room. Like the Tiergarten, the Charlottenburg gardens were originally laid out in the formal French style. English landscaping was introduced later. Several outbuildings can be visited. The nearest is the compact little Schinkel Pavilion, just behind the New Wing of the palace proper, where you can see three major early works by Caspar David Friedrich, the great German Romantic painter.
Further exploration of the gardens takes you to the Belvedere, a tea house at the northern end of the carp pond, and the Mausoleum in the form of a Doric temple, put up in 1810 and enlarged some 30 years later. Here lie the remains of 19th century members of the Prussian royal family.
Olympic Stadium Berlin
Sightseeing in Berlin never ceases to be a graphic exercise in contemporary history. Nowhere is this more evident than in the area around Olympia stadium. The stadium provides a supreme example of Hitler's folie de grandeur in all the bombastic gigantism of his favourite architecture and sculpture. As you approach through the main Olympic Gate, the stadium looks surprisingly low slung. But once inside, you see that the field itself lies 40 feet (12 m.) below ground level. Built originally for 120,000 spectators, the stadium now holds 96,000.
The huge Olympic complex has facilities for soccer, hockey, tennis riding and swimming.Southeast of the stadium in Masurenallee there is a colossus of more recent apparition, the I.C.C. (Internationates Congress Centrum), completed in 1979 as an audacious gamble on West Berlin's economic viability? The giant complex boasts 80 conference halls and meeting rooms. You may want to take a guided tour of this ultimate in buildings; the ingenuity and efficiency of it are fascinating, almost frightening.
Grunewald Forest and car hire Berlin
The best way to explore Grunewald Forest and the attractions of Berlin is to pre-book a hire car from the airport in Berlin.
Grunewald and the Havel before World War II, Grunewald Forest was rather melancholy woodland of dense pines. Wartime bombardments and the Berliners' postwar needs for fuel stripped an estimated 45 per cent of the forest, now replanted with a number of varieties18 million pines, but also six million chestnut, linden, beech, birch and oak trees. The grassy clearings make pleasant picnic grounds, while the wooded areas form a reserve for deer wild boar, marten, foxes and myriad rabbits.
You can reach this greenery by bus or car. Take the Avus Road, turning off halfway at the Grosser Stern. From here Huttenweg runs to the Grune waldsee, a lake which offers good swimming from delightful, sandy beaches. On the east shore, set impressively against the lake and surrounded by beach trees, stands Jagdschloss Grunewald, a hunting lodge built in the 16th century for Prince Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg.
Havelchaussee, a more leisurely route than the Avus skirts the Grunewald on th west side, bordering the broad Iver Havel. Several ferry stations along the way offer boat rides on the river and lakes.
Museums in Berlin
Some of Berlin's fine museums which shouldn't be missed are the National galerie (Potsdamer Strasse 50) which displays 19th and 20th century art, the Bauhaus Archiv (Klingelhof strasse 13), showing progressive architecture and design from the Weimar period, and the Agyptisches Museum (across the street from the Charlottenburg palace): three millennia of Egyptian artin all its diversity. The Antiken museum (opposite the Egyptian Museum) contains artefacts from Greek and Roman antiquity, and the Berlin Museum (Lindenstrasse 14) tells the story of the city from early times to today.
The museums housing the major part of the Prussian State art collections are situated to the south of the city centre (In addition to European painting, sculpture and engraving, Dahlem groups the museums of ethnography (noted for its pre Columbian holdings) and Indian, Islamic and Oriental (Chinese, Japanese and Korean) art. These last will take over the entire Dahlem installation when the European collections are moved, eventually, to the Tiergarten.
Rather paradoxically, the most elegant building on Unter den Linden may well be the old Baroque Zeughaus (Arsenal), next door to the Neue Wache. It was built at the end of the 17th century to hold the Prussian Army's munitions and weapons. Now it houses the Museum Deutsche Geschichte (German History Museum), which traces the nation's history from earliest times to the present day from a consistently Marxist point of view.
A short distance from Unter den Linden stands Schinkel's Schauspielhaus (Playhouse), notable for its imposing Ionic columned entrance. After refurbishing, the playhouse is once again an exciting place, though nowadays it serves as a concert hall. To the north of the Schauspielhaus is the Franzosischer Dom (French Cathedral), and to the south the classically inspired Deutscher Dom (German Cathedral), forms its natural counterpart.
Karl Liebknecht Strasse Marx Engels Briicke, designed by Schinkel, links U nter den Linden to KarlLiebknecht Strasse. As you cross the bridge, you'll catch a glimpse of Museumsinsel off to your left. This is the site of East Berlin's most prestigious museums . On the opposite side of the bridge lies Marx Engels Platz, focus for May Day military parades and mass rallies.
The Palast der Republik, completed in 1976, houses the Volkskammer (Parliament) 89 and a 5,000seat conference hall for Communist Party congresses. The outsize and somewhat ponderous Dom (cathedral), erected at the turn of the 20th century, stands across the street from the Palast der Republik. Further along, in the square beyond the crossing, you'll see the venerable 13thcentury St.MarienKirche, Berlin's oldest surviving parish church.
The neo Gothic bulk of the Rotes Rathaus (Red Town Hall) stands on the opposite side of the square. And in the centre lies the massive Neptune fountain, stranded in a sea of concrete. Monumental in their own right, the fountain, church and town hall are nevertheless completely dwarfed by the soaring 1,197foot (365m.) F ernsehturm (Television Tower).
Alexanderplatz Berlin
Alex, as the square is universally known, remains the undisputed heart of the city, despite relentless post war modernization. (It would probably be the centre of both halves of town if Berlin were ever reunited.) Now it is a bustling pedestrian area of cafes, hotels, small shops and apartments.
Kopenick
Kopenick, with its delightful Altstadt (old town) of 18thand 19thcentury houses, lies on the edge of the city to the southeast of East Berlin's centre. The solid 17thcentury Schloss Kopenick occupies an island in the River Dahme. From Kbpenick, a branch of the Spree leads to the Grosser Miiggelsee, Berlin's largest lake and a very pleasant place for picnics. You can get a good view of the surrounding countryside from the 98 foothigh (30m.) Miiggelturm nearby.
Eating out in Berlin
Eating out Some local specialities are Soljanka, originally a Russian mixed vegetable soup; Soleier, eggs pickled in brine served with seasoning and mustard; and Havelaal griin, eel boiled in dill sauce.
Eisbein mil Sauerkraut und Erbsenpiiree is pig's knuckle with pea puree and spicily seasoned sauerkraut, and gebratene Leber is liver fried with apple and onion rings. Dessert favourites are Schwarzwiilder Kirschtorte, Black Forest cherry cake, Haselnuss Sahne, hazelnut cream cake; and Kiisekuchen, cheesecake. Snack bars and mobile stalls sell Bulette (meatballs) and Schaschlik (skewers), as well as Currywurst and Thiiringer Rostbratwurst and other tasty German sausages. The most highly reputed Rhine wines are those of the Rheingau, the birthplace of the Rieslingthe pick of the crop being Schloss Johannisberg, Schloss Vollrads, Kloster Eberbach, Hattenheim and Riidesheim.
Berlin, like any other selfrespecting German town, can offer you a good glass of beer on tap or bottled in several varieties. If West Berlin is one big shop window for western culture, then the main branch is undoubtedly Ku'damm. Fashionable boutiques and big department stores line the avenue itself, while (Kaufhaus des Westens), a cherished Berlin institution, is situated close by in Tauentzienstrasse. The EuropaCenter near the Gediichtniskirche gathers together a variety of small shops under one roof.
Some articles to look out for in West Berlin: Antiques. Objects from the era of Kaiser Wilhelm; Art Nouveau and Art Deco glassware. Cutlery and electronic gadgets. These are of very high standard and design. Linens. Whether traditional or modern in design, German linens are noted for their good old fashioned quality. Porcelain. The manufacture of tableware and decorative objects continues a great German tradition.
Precision instruments. Many people appreciate German binoculars and telescopes. Turkish products. A delightful side effect of the Gastarbeiter (immigrant worker) colony.
Berlin information and car hire
You can book car hire in Berlin from most parts of the city but to save you time and money, pre-book car hire at the airport before you travel.Banking hours: From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday to Friday. Most banks remain open two afternoons a week (often Tuesday and Thursday from 3.30 to 6 p.m.). Shops: Open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The Kurfilrstendamm, at once elegant and garish, offers an ebullient echo of the wildly creative 1920s. The restored Reichstag recalls united Germany's brief attempts at parliamentary democracy, while the gigantic Olympic Stadium still proclaims the bombast of Hitler's dictatorship. The chaos and destruction that followed finds a quite deliberate reminder in the bombed out shell of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
The serene green spaces (largest of any city in the world) are West Berlin's lungs, but the heart, the centre around the Kurflirstendammor Ku'damm as its popularly known has an urgent, urban beat. Here are the shops, cafes, cinemas and theatres that have always appealed to both the Berlin bourgeoisie and intellectual community.
Berlin History
Friedrich II, Prince Elector of Brandenburg, assumes greater control over Berlin in 1447. The town retains virtual autonomy within the empire. During the Reformation, the people persuade the Prince Elector, Joachim II, to accept the Reformed rituals taught by Luther.
17th century The Thirty Years' War causes widespread strife. The Great Elector, Friedrich Wilhelm (1640-88) dreams of one united state of Brandenburg and Prussia. His efforts prepare Berlin to become a strong capital. Jewish refugees from Vienna and Huguenots fleeing France add to the city's cosmopolitan population.
In 1701 the Kingdom of Prussia is proclaimed under Friedrich I. His successor, Friedrich the Great, concentrates on building up the Prussian empire. Wars against revolutionary France begin in 1792. 19th century Napoleon's Grande Armee defeats Friedrich's successors. The French advance through Eastern Germany in 1806. Napoleon rides unimpeded through the Brandenburg Gate into Berlin. After the two year occupation the Prussian rulers are left to contend with liberal nationalism. Workers revolt in 1848 and are brutally suppressed by Prussian cavalry.
The Franco Prussian War
In the Franco Prussian War of 1870-71, the Germans under Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor, overcome the French. In the aftermath of the conflict he creates a united Germany. Berlin booms as the centre of the machine industry. 20th century Berlin's university and research institutes bring new prestige to the city but fortunes turn with World War I. Afterwards the Weimar Republic lasts fourteen years only to be overcome by economic difficulties and mass unemployment, ultimately causing a return to power of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party in 1932. Hitler becomes chancellor in 1933.
Starting in 1939 after Germany's invasion of Poland, World War II ends on May 7th, 1945 with the unconditional surrender of German troops. Four power control of Berlin is formalized at Potsdam by Churchill, Truman and Stalin. Soviets try to incorporate Berlin into East Germany, blockading West Berlin in 1948; but this is circumvented by airlifting supplies into the city. In 1961 Soviets construct the Wall to prevent refugees leaving East Germany.
Running through the centre of town is Berlin's most important street, Kurfiirstendamm (Prince Elector’s Embankment), perhaps the liveliest avenue in all of Germany. This is one place which pulsates with traffic late into the night. The street is known widely as Ku'damm and, like the Champs Elysees in Paris, it plays a more popular role as the town's preferred promenade. When Ku'damm window shopping expeditions take you as far as Fasanen strasse, you might like to visit the Jewish Community Centre at number 79/80. Framing the entrance is the portal from the synagogue that once stood here.
It was burned to the ground in 1938 From the hub of the Ku'damm at Joachimstaler Strasse, move on to Breitscheid platz, site of Kaiser Wilhelm Gediichtniskirche (M emoria I Church), preserved as a ruin, never to be restored. There is no more eloquent symbol of the city's suffering from bombardment and postwar rebirth. The war-scarred tower with the broken stump of its steeple is flanked by a new octagonal church to the east and a chapel (see the altarpiece by Ernst BarJach) and a six-sided tower to the west.
Beyond the church is the 22 storey Europa Center, which extends from Tauentzienstrasse to Budapester Strasse.
There are scores of boutiques, a cinema, a casino, and, best of all, a rooftop cafe with a splendid view of the whole city. KaDeWe (short for Kaufhaus des Westens), Berlin's phenomenal department store, lies a stone's throw away in Ta uen tzienstrasse. The zoo, or Zoologischer Garten, in Budapester Strasse contains such beguiling attractions as Indian and African elephants, giant pandas from China and rare, single horned rhinoceroses from India. Next door is the Aquarium, with fascinating ocean and river life.
Tiergarten Area Berlin
Despite its name, the Tiergarten (Animal Garden) is not another zoo. For the Brandenburg princes, it was a forest for hunting deer and wild boar. Friedrich the Great cleared away the trees and turned it, as was his Francophile wont, into a French style park of formal gardens and geometrical avenues. The northwest side of the Tiergarten constitutes HansaViertel, a chic residential neighbourhood damaged during the war and rebuilt III 1957 for an international exhibition.
To the south, just off Strasse des 17. Juni, you'll catch sight of a whimsical architectural landmark: the Technical University's und Schiflbau (Hydraulic and Ship Engineering Institute). The budding, despite its earnest name, is painted blue, pink and green technology with a smile.
Climb the 285 steps of the soaring Siegessliule victory column on the circle of the Grosser Stern for a magnificent view of the city.
Between the canal and Tiergarten strasse, in rubble strewn wasteland not far from the Wall, is a cultural centre, where some of Berlin's most prestigious institutions can be found: the Nationalgalerie, Staatsbibliothek and Philharmonie. In the nearby Strasse des 17. Juni you'll see a gloomy Soviet war memorial (SovielDenkmal) made of marble from the Reich Chancellery, topped by a huge bronze statue of a Russian soldier.
In the palace courtyard is a splendid statue of the Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm on horseback, designed by the prolific Baroque sculptor and architect Andreas Schluter. The palace interiors have been restored to recapture the gracious atmosphere of royal life in the 18th century. You are free to roam at will through the ornamental world of the Hohenzollerns, except for Friedrich 1's and Sophie Charlotte's apartments in the central building and west wing (join one of the guided tours offered daily at regular intervals). The rooms occupied by the king and queen echo the Baroque grandeur of Versailles.
Rococo Paintings Berlin
Do not miss the incomparable Rococo paintings in the concert room. Like the Tiergarten, the Charlottenburg gardens were originally laid out in the formal French style. English landscaping was introduced later. Several outbuildings can be visited. The nearest is the compact little Schinkel Pavilion, just behind the New Wing of the palace proper, where you can see three major early works by Caspar David Friedrich, the great German Romantic painter.
Further exploration of the gardens takes you to the Belvedere, a tea house at the northern end of the carp pond, and the Mausoleum in the form of a Doric temple, put up in 1810 and enlarged some 30 years later. Here lie the remains of 19th century members of the Prussian royal family.
Olympic Stadium Berlin
Sightseeing in Berlin never ceases to be a graphic exercise in contemporary history. Nowhere is this more evident than in the area around Olympia stadium. The stadium provides a supreme example of Hitler's folie de grandeur in all the bombastic gigantism of his favourite architecture and sculpture. As you approach through the main Olympic Gate, the stadium looks surprisingly low slung. But once inside, you see that the field itself lies 40 feet (12 m.) below ground level. Built originally for 120,000 spectators, the stadium now holds 96,000.
The huge Olympic complex has facilities for soccer, hockey, tennis riding and swimming.Southeast of the stadium in Masurenallee there is a colossus of more recent apparition, the I.C.C. (Internationates Congress Centrum), completed in 1979 as an audacious gamble on West Berlin's economic viability? The giant complex boasts 80 conference halls and meeting rooms. You may want to take a guided tour of this ultimate in buildings; the ingenuity and efficiency of it are fascinating, almost frightening.
Grunewald Forest and car hire Berlin
The best way to explore Grunewald Forest and the attractions of Berlin is to pre-book a hire car from the airport in Berlin.
Grunewald and the Havel before World War II, Grunewald Forest was rather melancholy woodland of dense pines. Wartime bombardments and the Berliners' postwar needs for fuel stripped an estimated 45 per cent of the forest, now replanted with a number of varieties18 million pines, but also six million chestnut, linden, beech, birch and oak trees. The grassy clearings make pleasant picnic grounds, while the wooded areas form a reserve for deer wild boar, marten, foxes and myriad rabbits.
You can reach this greenery by bus or car. Take the Avus Road, turning off halfway at the Grosser Stern. From here Huttenweg runs to the Grune waldsee, a lake which offers good swimming from delightful, sandy beaches. On the east shore, set impressively against the lake and surrounded by beach trees, stands Jagdschloss Grunewald, a hunting lodge built in the 16th century for Prince Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg.
Havelchaussee, a more leisurely route than the Avus skirts the Grunewald on th west side, bordering the broad Iver Havel. Several ferry stations along the way offer boat rides on the river and lakes.
Museums in Berlin
Some of Berlin's fine museums which shouldn't be missed are the National galerie (Potsdamer Strasse 50) which displays 19th and 20th century art, the Bauhaus Archiv (Klingelhof strasse 13), showing progressive architecture and design from the Weimar period, and the Agyptisches Museum (across the street from the Charlottenburg palace): three millennia of Egyptian artin all its diversity. The Antiken museum (opposite the Egyptian Museum) contains artefacts from Greek and Roman antiquity, and the Berlin Museum (Lindenstrasse 14) tells the story of the city from early times to today.
The museums housing the major part of the Prussian State art collections are situated to the south of the city centre (In addition to European painting, sculpture and engraving, Dahlem groups the museums of ethnography (noted for its pre Columbian holdings) and Indian, Islamic and Oriental (Chinese, Japanese and Korean) art. These last will take over the entire Dahlem installation when the European collections are moved, eventually, to the Tiergarten.
Rather paradoxically, the most elegant building on Unter den Linden may well be the old Baroque Zeughaus (Arsenal), next door to the Neue Wache. It was built at the end of the 17th century to hold the Prussian Army's munitions and weapons. Now it houses the Museum Deutsche Geschichte (German History Museum), which traces the nation's history from earliest times to the present day from a consistently Marxist point of view.
A short distance from Unter den Linden stands Schinkel's Schauspielhaus (Playhouse), notable for its imposing Ionic columned entrance. After refurbishing, the playhouse is once again an exciting place, though nowadays it serves as a concert hall. To the north of the Schauspielhaus is the Franzosischer Dom (French Cathedral), and to the south the classically inspired Deutscher Dom (German Cathedral), forms its natural counterpart.
Karl Liebknecht Strasse Marx Engels Briicke, designed by Schinkel, links U nter den Linden to KarlLiebknecht Strasse. As you cross the bridge, you'll catch a glimpse of Museumsinsel off to your left. This is the site of East Berlin's most prestigious museums . On the opposite side of the bridge lies Marx Engels Platz, focus for May Day military parades and mass rallies.
The Palast der Republik, completed in 1976, houses the Volkskammer (Parliament) 89 and a 5,000seat conference hall for Communist Party congresses. The outsize and somewhat ponderous Dom (cathedral), erected at the turn of the 20th century, stands across the street from the Palast der Republik. Further along, in the square beyond the crossing, you'll see the venerable 13thcentury St.MarienKirche, Berlin's oldest surviving parish church.
The neo Gothic bulk of the Rotes Rathaus (Red Town Hall) stands on the opposite side of the square. And in the centre lies the massive Neptune fountain, stranded in a sea of concrete. Monumental in their own right, the fountain, church and town hall are nevertheless completely dwarfed by the soaring 1,197foot (365m.) F ernsehturm (Television Tower).
Alexanderplatz Berlin
Alex, as the square is universally known, remains the undisputed heart of the city, despite relentless post war modernization. (It would probably be the centre of both halves of town if Berlin were ever reunited.) Now it is a bustling pedestrian area of cafes, hotels, small shops and apartments.
Kopenick
Kopenick, with its delightful Altstadt (old town) of 18thand 19thcentury houses, lies on the edge of the city to the southeast of East Berlin's centre. The solid 17thcentury Schloss Kopenick occupies an island in the River Dahme. From Kbpenick, a branch of the Spree leads to the Grosser Miiggelsee, Berlin's largest lake and a very pleasant place for picnics. You can get a good view of the surrounding countryside from the 98 foothigh (30m.) Miiggelturm nearby.
Eating out in Berlin
Eating out Some local specialities are Soljanka, originally a Russian mixed vegetable soup; Soleier, eggs pickled in brine served with seasoning and mustard; and Havelaal griin, eel boiled in dill sauce.
Eisbein mil Sauerkraut und Erbsenpiiree is pig's knuckle with pea puree and spicily seasoned sauerkraut, and gebratene Leber is liver fried with apple and onion rings. Dessert favourites are Schwarzwiilder Kirschtorte, Black Forest cherry cake, Haselnuss Sahne, hazelnut cream cake; and Kiisekuchen, cheesecake. Snack bars and mobile stalls sell Bulette (meatballs) and Schaschlik (skewers), as well as Currywurst and Thiiringer Rostbratwurst and other tasty German sausages. The most highly reputed Rhine wines are those of the Rheingau, the birthplace of the Rieslingthe pick of the crop being Schloss Johannisberg, Schloss Vollrads, Kloster Eberbach, Hattenheim and Riidesheim.
Berlin, like any other selfrespecting German town, can offer you a good glass of beer on tap or bottled in several varieties. If West Berlin is one big shop window for western culture, then the main branch is undoubtedly Ku'damm. Fashionable boutiques and big department stores line the avenue itself, while (Kaufhaus des Westens), a cherished Berlin institution, is situated close by in Tauentzienstrasse. The EuropaCenter near the Gediichtniskirche gathers together a variety of small shops under one roof.
Some articles to look out for in West Berlin: Antiques. Objects from the era of Kaiser Wilhelm; Art Nouveau and Art Deco glassware. Cutlery and electronic gadgets. These are of very high standard and design. Linens. Whether traditional or modern in design, German linens are noted for their good old fashioned quality. Porcelain. The manufacture of tableware and decorative objects continues a great German tradition.
Precision instruments. Many people appreciate German binoculars and telescopes. Turkish products. A delightful side effect of the Gastarbeiter (immigrant worker) colony.
Berlin information and car hire
You can book car hire in Berlin from most parts of the city but to save you time and money, pre-book car hire at the airport before you travel.Banking hours: From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday to Friday. Most banks remain open two afternoons a week (often Tuesday and Thursday from 3.30 to 6 p.m.). Shops: Open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
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